


Implied Overly Complicated Relationships

by Girl_With_No_Aesthetic_04



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Bisexual (disaster) Zoey Clarke, F/M, I Don't Even Know, I Tried, Kinda, fluffy? I can't tell, he's very observant, just Googling honestly, lol, married and divorced before the show AU, season 1 from Tobin's perspective, vague stalker tendencies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24811924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girl_With_No_Aesthetic_04/pseuds/Girl_With_No_Aesthetic_04
Summary: It’s well known by 4th floor SPRQ Point employees that Zoey Clarke is A) not very good at relationships and B) was at some point married. To who, well, no one knows. But Simon Haynes seems like a good contender to Tobin Batra.
Relationships: (implied) Tobin Batra/Leif Donnelly, (mentioned) Max Richman/Original Female Character, (mentioned) Zoey Clarke/Max Richman, Zoey Clarke & Max Richman, Zoey Clarke/Simon Haynes
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	Implied Overly Complicated Relationships

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for the kudos on my last fic. If you read it and enjoyed it, thank you!
> 
> Once again, please excuse any grammar/spelling errors, this is mostly unedited.
> 
> (I am in no way affliated with Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist because by US law, I'm not a legal adult.)

“Think about it!” Tobin whisper-yelled to his co-workers. “It makes sense. They seem to have known each other before Simon came here.”

The team of employees were seated in a circle on the ground. Zoey Clarke and the new guy, Simon Haynes, had just left to get food somewhere. Tobin had just told them his theory that Simon was Zoey’s ex-husband. 

Zoey Clarke was known to not be too good at relationships, something that was strangely known by the 4th floor SPRQ Point employees, specifically Max Richman, her best friend. It wasn’t because Max ran his mouth behind her back, Zoey had told her co-workers herself. She herself described her relationships as “unnecessarily complicated, exhausting for everybody, and the opposite of good.” She often called back on one particularly toxic relationship she had with a guy named Finn or Jasper (Tobin could never remember which). She’d also talked about a one night stand she had back in college, that she and the girl she had it with both completely overcomplicated.

However, it was also known Zoey Clarke had an ex-husband, that she claimed was one of the better relationships. Apparently the two had gotten married in order to get some deductions from college expenses, but then they did actually start a romantic relationship. However the two eventually divorced anyway (amicably, Zoey claimed), not continuing the relationship. But Zoey said that she was still hung up over him, typically saying, “I don’t know when I fell for him, but I did.”

“Maybe they were friends in college or something?” Leif suggested.

“I counter that with the fact that Zoey once said she’s still hung up over her ex-husband. Zoey is clearly into Simon.” Tobin stated, as if it were fact. Max noticeably flinched at that. Guess that was another thing. But Max’s clearly hurt feelings didn’t stop Tobin from adding, “And quite frankly, it kinda looks like Simon’s into her too.”  _ Even though he’s engaged _ went unsaid.

That wasn’t the kicker for Tobin though. It was that on Simon’s first day, Zoey approached him with the biggest smile on her face. She walked up to him, punched his arm and said, “Simon Haynes. Good to see you.” 

He responded, “Nice to see you as well, Zoey Clarke.”

Then Zoey asked how his fiance, Jessica, was and they just talked like they had known each other all their lives. And the way they were looking at each other, shit, they just looked so in love.

Leif groaned, “Tobin, you can be into two people at once.”

Glen, of all people, scoffed. “This is Zoey we’re talking about, Leif. Is she really capable of that?”

Max’s nose scrunched up at that. His mouth opened like he was about to say something, but he closed it quickly.

Leif sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s… it’s a theory. Not that good of a theory, but a theory.”

“Thanks, buddy.” Tobin said, a feeling of validation and something else, butterflies probably, settling in his stomach when Leif said that.

The impromptu meeting adjourned, but Tobin always had the theory at the back of his mind.

And there it stayed as he watched the lives of his co-workers. As Leif grew more distant, Tobin found he liked to observe Zoey. 

He wasn’t entirely sure why. He’d never really been that invested in her life or mental health, or even her as a person before she became team manager. 

Maybe it was because she seemed more distracted lately. She was often off in what Max called Zoeyland. Maybe it was because she’d taken on a new, probably very stressful, workload. Maybe because her friend was openly pursuing her or she was clearly into a taken man (who might’ve been her ex-husband). 

Or maybe it was even more personal. He heard that her dad was dying. 

Her mental health was obviously declining. Whether or not that bit about her dad was true or not, she wasn’t doing well. 

And he started to get concerned by it. He considered asking her about it, but he figured it would be extremely awkward, considering they didn’t really know each other, so it was off the table. The theory slipped to the back of his mind. 

And then, she didn’t come into work for a bit. Her dad died. It was quieter without her at work. Not a lot of work was done without their manager.

Simon would come in during this period of time, but he’d usually leave early, typically after what looked like a call or text. Joan let it happen. And even though it was obvious he’d been going through something before (his dad had committed suicide from what he’d heard, which will fuck you up), he could’ve sworn he’d taken up different but also hard-hitting grief. And he knew the calls and texts weren't Jessica, as they had recently called it off. Which only really left Zoey in his mind.

About four weeks passed.

And then Max was re-hired for the 4th floor, Leif came back as well, and Zoey slowly came back to work.

She didn’t make it through an hour of her first day; about forty-five minutes through she fell out of her chair, this tiny pile of limbs, and started sobbing. Simon ran to her from his office, held her for a few minutes, and then escorted her out. Max’s brow was furrowed in worry and he was staring with clear jealousy. Joan was deathly silent and didn’t comment. Neither of them came back that day. It was quiet on the 4th floor the rest of the day.

She did better on the second day, making it through four hours of their seven hour work day. When the fourth hour came, she stood up, arms crossed, almost as though she was trying to protect herself, and walked to Simon’s office. He noticed her almost immediately and walked her out, and once again neither came back.

The third day she made it through all seven hours, although she was shaking hard when she left.

Whether or not she came to work became staggered after that. Whether she left with Simon in tow became more staggered as well. And the less she left, the more Max started not staring with obvious jealousy when she’d leave with Simon.

The most notable change came about two months later though. She laughed at some dank Minecraft joke Tobin made. And not some tiny giggle, this loud, boisterous laugh that almost stopped the 4th floor entirely. And then Tobin joined laughing. And then Max. And suddenly the whole team was laughing. Not a lot of work was completed the rest of the day, any member of the team dissolving into laughter and the rest would follow suit.

It was different after that. She laughed and smiled more. There was this weird tension between her and Max, but it was so veiled Tobin almost didn’t notice it. There were still days where she didn’t come into work or days where she and Simon would disappear, but they were less frequent. In fact, enough time passed Zoey hired someone, India Matthew, a former employee of Google.

Oddly enough, Tobin found out he cared deeply for this girl. It wasn’t romantic in the slightest, but he wanted more than anything to be her friend. He started putting in the effort. Zoey seemed a bit shocked at first, but accepted it.

Teasing slowly returned. Zoey had made it clear she could handle it, but it was still slow to return, everyone treating her somewhat like glass. That changed the day after she fell asleep when working Chirp and Simon had to take a sleeping Zoey home. The nickname “Sleepy” began the next day. But all holding back left the day Zoey came to work the first day of June, dressed like a rainbow. She was lucky Joan hadn’t been there at the moment because she yelled, “Roast me, motherfuckers!” and Tobin promptly did. Just about everyone did.

Simon and Zoey never stated if they were in a relationship. They were very affectionate towards each other. They acted a lot like a couple would. But, they denied a romantic relationship when someone had asked. It was obvious to Tobin that this odd dynamic was their relationship. They were obviously in love, but were teetering along an actual relationship. Like they knew the other’s feelings, but neither would act on them. Which made him even more pissed. Because what the fuck was holding them back? Max certainly wasn’t, seeing as he was clearly developing a crush on India. So again,  _ what the fuck was holding them back? _

It was October and it had been about eight months since Zoey had come back when the thought Tobin had theorized came back to him. What if Zoey Clarke and Simon Haynes had been married?

The night Tobin remembered his theory, Leif was out late with a new co-worker and Tobin, while yes, feeling very off about it, took the opportunity to look up his two co-workers. He wasn’t going to actually hack them or anything, because he was tired and not feeling well about Leif (though he wouldn’t admit it).

He typed in Zoey Clarke-Haynes and Simon Clarke-Haynes, but nothing came up. He tried it without the hyphens. Nothing.

So he typed in Zoey Haynes-Clarke San Francisco. And something came up. The sites for official San Francisco records.

Was it in bad taste to basically be stalking his co-workers? Yes. But, in his defense, they were public record. And be real, this was nothing compared to what he could actually be doing to stalk them.

So he looked. And it was written down, right there. A girl named Zoey Clarke and a man named Simon Haynes married in their early 20s and both had adopted the last name Haynes-Clarke. And god, that felt like a victory for him.  _ He was right _ .

He went back to the Google search page and saw another thing. An article about something coding related. And the bolded name of Zoey Haynes-Clarke caught his eye. The fact that it was also the SPRQ Point website caught his attention. He clicked.

It was pretty recent, in that it had happened within the last year. It was from the launch of the watch. On the list of those who helped prepare for the function was the name Zoey Haynes-Clarke, and a few spaces below it was the name Simon Haynes-Clarke. He scrolled down to the comments. Most were just about the event itself (it had been fun), but one asked if Zoey and Simon were married. He smirked at the names. They kept the last name.  _ And no one knew _ .

He looked around a bit more, and actually found two pictures of them in college. One seemed to be at an art show or something. Simon was wearing jeans and a blazer, and Tobin actually cackled at that. His sense of style had definitely changed. But Zoey looked nice wearing a dark blue dress. Simon was holding her and god damn, the way they were looking at each other.

The other was on a bench in front of a fountain. Zoey was sitting on Simon’s lap. The thing that maybe shocked him most was Zoey not wearing a sweater, considering that was basically all she wore. She was instead wearing a pink tank top, gray flannel, and blue jeans. Simon was wearing a hoodie and jeans. He had his arm around her, and he was kissing her hand. And fuck, in this picture they might’ve been eye-fucking. The look they were giving each other here put the other picture to shame.

He smiled, it made him oddly happy to see.

He clicked off the webpage, after quickly debating whether or not to bookmark it. He decided against it. It was… odd, but he didn’t want the others to know. He was pretty sure he could figure out why if he thought about it, but he was tired, and didn’t want to. He’d just keep it to himself.

The next day, Zoey and Simon weren’t at work. That wasn’t particularly worrying, it could’ve just been one of the days that they didn’t show up. But they weren’t there the next day. Max and India had no clue where they were. Oddly, Joan didn’t really care when the three had brought it up. But, the next day was Saturday and there wasn’t much they could do, so they went on with their day like normal. Well, as normal as it could be when the entire office was setting up for Halloween.

On Monday, Zoey and Simon walked into SPRQ Point hand in hand, big smiles on their faces.

And Tobin couldn’t help but notice a ring on Zoey’s finger.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really remember how I came up with the idea of this, but... here it is. The ending is open to interpretation. The ring can be a wedding ring, engagement ring, or promise ring (are those still a thing? Were they ever a thing?) I'd love to hear you're interpretations.
> 
> Also, random thing. If you read Coffee and Cakes (But Not Coffee Cakes), I have a board for that on Pinterest. I also have a board for Joey and Maggie (I'll probably do more for the other kids). If you're interested in that, here it is https://www.pinterest.com/crmnrbrts/my-fanfiction-stuffffff/
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
